Operating rooms generally, and suites for arthroscopic surgical procedures specifically, are areas where spillage of large amounts of liquid or fluid material is a common occurrence. In the case of arthroscopic surgical procedures, large quantities of saline solution are used to irrigate the joint. Also fluid from the wound itself may have to be evacuated. Often these liquids are spilled onto the floor of the operating room. Ordinary absorbent mats can handle gradual seepage of liquid, but if large amounts are spilled at one time, the liquid will spill off the edges of the mat before it ca be absorbed.
Such spillage of liquid on the operating room floor can create a hazard of slippage for the medical personnel, and it can also create a problem with the sanitary conditions of the surgical suite.
In years past such spills have been cleaned by the maintenance personnel following the surgical procedure. The traditional methods have involved mopping or soaking up liquids, and/or collecting or gathering solids. Such clean-up often involves cleaning up bodily fluids which can contain pathogens such as the AIDS virus or the hepatitis virus. Thus, contact between the cleaning person and the substances spilled is often undesirable, yet unavoidable and presents such personnel with a risk of infection.
More recently, out-patient surgery has become an attractive alternative for a number of conditions, particularly arthroscopic surgery. In order to make out-patient surgery cost efficient, it is necessary to reduce the amount of cleanup and thus the amount of time between surgical procedures. A number of products have been developed to reduce the cleanup time between procedures and also alleviate the hazard created by spillage during the procedure. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,590 to Hergenroeder describes and claims a receptacle device for collecting fluid spilled in a surgical suite. The device is made of molded rubber or a similar synthetic and contains channels which carry the fluid away. Although perhaps an effective way to control the hazard of slippage created by spilled fluids, the device is quite complicated, is not disposable and so must itself be periodically cleaned and disinfected. The present invention provides an inexpensive yet effective alternative to a device such as that described in the '590 patent. Further, the present invention is for a disposable mat so the dangers and problems of cleaning the mat itself are now avoided.